Twelve-year-old Steven Gieseler Jr., 12, of East Islip, New York isn’t one of those kids who sees dollar signs in everything. Steven and his father went to the Yankees-Giants game back on September 20 and before the night was over, he had landed a record-setting home run ball—one he returned to the player who hit it.
Steven followed the bouncing home run ball off the bat of Alex Rodriguez into the row in front of him at Yankee Stadium. The bases were loaded and as big as the home run was for the team, it was bigger for baseball. The bomb by A-Rod was the 24th of his controversial career, breaking Lou Gehrig’s record for career grand slams.
No matter what you think of Rodriguez, the record will stand and 24 for a career is quite a feat. The ball would likely have brought at least five figures at auction, but instead, Steven gave the ball back to the man who hit it.
Newsday chronicled what happened that night and what Steven received in return for an item that might have paid for a nice chunk of his college education.
